St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-26


| their God. A case occurred recently IN
| which nihiliSt had distributed num-
| berS of pamphlets containing the most
vile abuse of the cZar and the imperial
family, to what he believed was an APP
preciative audience, when they sud-
denly attacked and soundly beat him.
| 1t seems a very slight service to DIR.
McGlynn, and those who are engaged
with him in denOuncing the Russian
treaty, that during the darkest days of
| the late civil war in America the
Russian government should send it's
fleet into northern wgterS with inStruc-
| tions which probably had the effect of
causing England to be less pronounced
| in her desire for the severance of the
! union, but this service is gratefully re-
membered by every loyal and patriotic
citizen whose love of country does not
| consist in indorsing or teaching the
views of set Of men whose doctrines
received their American baptism in the
| blood of Chicago policemen. The Rus
sian government was one of the first
| friends the American republic found
in Europe, and its policy has been uni
formly friendly and favorable toward
the United States. Any American who
has travelled in Russia will tell of the
extraordinary feeling of friendship
which is everywhere found by Ameri-
cans, and evidence is very plenty as to
| the prompt compliance by the authOri-
| ties with the requests of American con-
sulS, while the same request whenmade
by the cOnsuls of other nations has
either been refused or indefinitely post
pOned. Robert Ingersoll is very we'll
| known. In letter which was read at
meeting held in New York he says:
INGERSOLL MISTAKEN.
| No Such treot nv shOuld he made while Sihe-
ria is the tomb of the bravest and the best.
1t is time that this Siberian bugbear
disappeared, and before the American
public eXpend too much sympathy on the
colonist in Siberia, it would be but JUS
tice to friendly power to find out how
| much truth there is in the horrible tales
told in connection with the treatment
of the prisoners who are sent to Siberia.
| The old stories about the lead mines are
| still used by the enemies of Russia
whenever they can find an audience
whose Sympathies do more credit to
their hearts than to their knowledge of
the subject. Russia has a population of
100,000,000. Capital punishment does
not exist, except for political offenders
or doing state of siege. Consequently,
nearly all persons who are found guilty
OF crimes are sent to Siberia.
Some of these persons are per-
mitted 10 take their families with
them, ana in reality become settlers in
the country, and, furthermore, receive
| government aid. Others again are put
to hard labor, such as the prisoners in
many European and American prisons
are subjected to. According to the sta
tistics quoted by Prince Kropotkine, the
total number of persons in Siberia for
OtfenSeS Of many different kinds. with
the wives and children of some of them,
is 10000, including those who are
simply eXiled, without loss of ordinary
personal rights, and those who are par
TALLY or wholly deprived Of civil rights,
with large proportion who have
worked out their terms of compulsory
labor. He states that 10000 or 17,O00
persons are sent to Siberia every year.
About One-seventh of the prisoners are
under sentence of hard labor. Accord
ing to the Rev. Henry Lansdell, only
Seventy-twO political offenders, includ-
ing nearly forty condemned during the
six years previous, but detained in the
central prison at Karkov, were sent to
Siberia during 1851 Those not con-
victed of
IEINOUS CRIMES,
| such as murderOuS attempts or cOnSpir-
acies of that kind. are usually, after a
brief confinement, allowed to live in
the towns with their families and be-
come cOlonists, like the Australian tex
plreeS' of half century ago. The long
land journey to Siberia was formerly
attended with severe hardships. but is
now rendered much easier by the COM
pletion of railways and post roads on
the route, via Ekaterineburg and
Tiumen, whence there is steam naviga-
ton on the rivers to Tobolsk, Omsk and
TOmsk. The prisoners from the north
pnnvQuaI INV roll IN,
Mini NovgOrod, in the month of May;
there placed in large covered barges
tOwed by steamers to Perm, and thence
carried by steamers to Ekaterineburg,
whence conveyance is provided to
Tlumen, the first prison town
in Siberia. Mr.. Lansdell's book
contains minute descriptions of the
Siberian prisons and penal settlements,
of their rules and discipline. of the
treatment of convicts, and the gold
mines of YeneSeisk, where they work
hard but have ''wholesome food. warm
quarters and attention in sickness -
The quicksilver mines, said to be so
deleterious, are non-eXistent. At the
great AleXandreffsky prison, near
lrkutSk, which might bear comparison
with some jailS in America, he found,
however, some of those shut up in wards
eliterally begging for employment"
Seventy-two political prisoners in
seven years being the number sent to
Siberia, Americans will be able to Judge
how much truth there is in Mr.. Inger-
soils statement that
SIBERIA Is THE TOMB
of the bravest and the BEST On June
z, 1864, the city of Boston gave a recep-
ton to the Russian admiral MI. Ever
EFT delivered the address of welcome,
and said:
AS you have truly remarked. sir, Russia
was one of the first powers to hold out the
| hand OF fellowship to us OH our appearance
In the family OF nations. In that re-
markable letter of Prince Gortschakoff the
russian minister for foreign affairs, dated
10th July, 1861, and addressed to the Rus
sian envoy IN this country, to be communi-
Gated to the secretary of state, he uses this
memorable language: lin spite of the diver
Slty OF their constitutions and of their inter-
ests, perhaps even because of their diversity,
providence seems to urge the United States
to draw closer the matrimonial bond as the
basis and very condition of their political ex-
lstence. In any event the sacrifices they
might impose upon themselves. to maintain
1t (the union, then threatened by secession),
are not to be compared to those which disso-
luton would bring after it. United, they per-
feet each other; separated from each other
they are paralyzed."
If the visit of the Russian fleet to New
York and other Northern ports during
the darkest days of the war, and the eX-
PR ssions of friendship contained in
Priuce Gortschakotf's letter. were due
to selfishness, then it must be admitted
that this ''selfishness'' was manifested
at a very oppOrtune moment for the fate
of the Union. The people of the United
States. who have recently celebrated the
centennial anniversary of the adoption
of their constitution with SO much ioy
and pride, should remember that the ac-
ton of the Russian government helped
to make this celebration possible. ~